Living up to the Promise of Multi-Year Humanitarian Financing

Endorsed in the Grand Bargain by donors, UN agencies and NGOs, multi-year humanitarian financing (MYHF) is widely assumed to bring a variety of benefits. However, such benefits have rarely been tested beyond theoretical conjecture. This study focuses on how MYHF can truly enable greater efficiency and effectiveness, and what investments and upgrades are needed.

The study commissioned by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) explores when and where MYHF can have the greatest effect, and identities the investments and enabling conditions required at the organisational and systemic levels for it to live up to its potential. The research also points towards the challenges that humanitarian actors now face in building a more predictable and responsive humanitarian system and identities a set of new and emerging challenges related to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.